Solidarity, or, when it's ok to eat ice cream for dinner

In case you missed it, New York City had a public transit meltdown today. Torrential rains in the early morning combined with a tornado in Brooklyn (yes, really, and incidentally combined with temperatures in the 90's and ridiculous humidity), to cause flooding in the subways, trees across streets in Brooklyn, over-packed buses and snarled traffic. Yes, all the subways (of record).

I awoke to a fantastic thunder and lightning storm at 6 a.m. When I was a summer camp staffer at various levels of responsibility, I loved waking up in my plywood cabin to the crack of thunder and the entire space alight from above. Among the things I missed in my intermezzo on the Worst Coast was weather with chutzpah. And here, we get it in spades. I enjoyed the interplay of light and sound over the Empire State Building for a while, then dozed off until the alarm rang. Then, comme toujours, hit the radio for NPR in my ongoing effort to put my feet on the floor before 8 am. And listened to them off the subway lines, one by one. It was like listening to Dumbledore recount Voldemort's purging of the wizard community - first the R, then the 1, then the 4-5, then the 2-3, then the 6. The W didn't even warrant a mention. My alternate transportation plans kept evaporating, and I am disinclined to experiment with the buses under duress.

I pinged a colleague who's sort of a neighbour (and, despite being a native was one of the blissfully media-in-the-morning-free), who dissuaded me from experimenting with the bus under the circumstances, and we decided to walk.

You heard me.

I donned indestructible clothes, my most comfy flip flops (heels in my handbag), and headed into the heat. Met my friend in Soho, and walked the 4 or so miles down Broadway to Lower Manhattan along with the rest of the people who felt obliged to make a timely effort to get to work today, (and could do so). It was actually fun. We walked and talked and made our way through Tribeca and the Financial District, hitting a Starbucks at a key moment for a/c and a decent breakfast. The walk was hot, although punctuated by surprisingly cool breezes near City Hall, and I wished I'd work shorts and carried work-wear, but we survived.

Regardless of what you may have heard about New Yorkers, on days like today, people made eye contact. They smiled, in spite of the sweat and the heat, and the general discomfort. My partner in crime shouted at one of the stupid double decker tourist buses poking its way along somewhere near Canal Street, "it's not always like this!," to the delight of all. And at work, everyone shared stories of the 1-4 and a half hours it took them to get in. The guy who accidentally ran over my heel at Trader Joe's this evening (I shopped my way home to maximize the air conditioning of others), apologized profusely, and I told him it was ok at least 6 times.

And then I got in, unpacked groceries, turned on a/c, and sat down in the bathtub with only cold water running. Definitely a night for shrimp spring rolls and ice cream for dinner.